London Spitfire's new general manager speaks about the UK arena, EU merch plans & player meet-and-greets

London Spitfire has appointed Susie “lilsusie” Kim as its new general manager.
She has a strong background in esports, having worked as a host, caster, interviewer and translator across games such as StarCraft and League of Legends, as well as helping Twitch to grow across South Korea.
Susie said in an announcement post: “After many years of having been part of the esports community in various capacities, I am super excited to be the new GM for the London Spitfire!
“I feel that the organisation shares many of my ideals in developing teams and players, and I am excited to see how we can grow their newest brand together.”
Susie recently took to Reddit to answer fans’ questions in an AMA session.
When asked about the progress of Spitfire’s upcoming London arena, she said: “That’s being talked about. I know Blizzard has big plans to get everyone to localise in the next few years so definitely it will happen.
“It’s also exciting because that means we’ll be able to have games that’s better for UK/EU time zones. Remember this is just Season 1 – it’ll only get bigger and better in the coming seasons.”
On the idea of the Spitfire players meeting up with fans in the UK, she said: “This is something that I am really pushing for once the off season comes around! Obviously the boys need to practice and focus on playing (and winning) for now, but I really am trying to make sure we can get them to London to meet our awesome fans.”
 

“Most of the official OWL merch is done through Blizzard, so my hands are tied there, but Spitfire are working on seeing if we can get Spitfire merch in EU.”
Susie Kim, London Spitfire

 
On the possibility of UK meet-and-greets taking place outside of London, Susie added: “We will have to work out the logistics of that. It wasn’t something I’ve considered! Before we head out there though, I’m sure we will be able to give you plenty of time in case you’d need to make travel plans. I’ll talk about this with the guys to see if we can do a small tour – maybe visit 2-3 major cities.”
Susie was also asked a few times the inevitable question on the possibility of an EU or UK store for merchandise.
At the moment, UK fans have to purchase items from Blizzard’s US store and it can take a few weeks to get orders through, with extra shipping tax adding onto the total after delivery.
“I am hoping we can get on this [introducing a UK/EU web store] soon! Most of the official OWL merch is done through Blizzard, so my hands are tied there, but we (the Spitfire org) are working on seeing if we can get Spitfire merch in EU. Blue and orange coming your way soon, I hope!
“When [we’ll get the merch] is a difficult question to answer as there are many moving parts. I can say that it’s currently being worked on though. There’s nothing more I’d like than to gear out our fans.”
Susie also revealed that the team are looking to move into one big gaming house ‘very very soon’.
You can check out Susie’s full AMA on Reddit here.

Dom Sacco

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.

As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.